


Lights

by nephiliminality



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Ace-friendly, Bored Crowley (Good Omens), Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon, Short & Sweet, South Downs Cottage (Good Omens), Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nephiliminality/pseuds/nephiliminality
Summary: "The city never gets a bit much for me." Crowley waved his glass around for emphasis. "I like cities. There's a neverending supply of new people to mess with, and you can get wine at four in the morning.""Well, you don't have to come." Aziraphale said, with mock petulance. "I'll just go without you.""Let's not be hasty."Aziraphale grinned. "Come with me then. It's not that far from London. And you might like it."(Aziraphale heads to the countryside for some peace and quiet. Crowley tags along and gets very bored. They find some common ground.)
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Kudos: 31





	Lights

Partway down their third bottle of wine, Aziraphale had mentioned that he wanted to get a cottage on the South Downs. Crowley took the news with some bemusement.

"The South Downs? Why would you want to move to the South Downs? Pretty sure little villages on hills in the middle of nowhere don't have many sushi restaurants."

"Not move there, goodness no." Aziraphale hastily corrected. "I just got this shop back, I'm not leaving it now. I mean somewhere to escape to occasionally. You know, for when the city gets a bit much."

"The city never gets a bit much for me." Crowley waved his glass around for emphasis. "I like cities. There's a neverending supply of new people to mess with, and you can get wine at four in the morning."

"Well, you don't have to come." Aziraphale said, with mock petulance. "I'll just go without you."

"Let's not be hasty."

Aziraphale grinned. "Come with me then. It's not that far from London. And you might like it."

* * *

It had only taken two trips to find the right place. Aziraphale had spent time in the area back in the early 20th century, when he'd been peripherally associated with a literary group he'd met in London via a writer friend. Its continued appeal might owe more to its proximity to Glyndebourne than anything else. Once he'd found somewhere suitable, the purchase went through with such unearthly ease that the solicitors were convinced they'd unwittingly been involved in some kind of tax scam. In Aziraphale's world, property chains were things that happened to other people.

Today they were heading out to stay there for the first time. Crowley had set up the fancy automatic watering system that the adverts had been so persuasive about1, and made sure the plants were aware that his brief absence was not an excuse to slack off. Then he'd downloaded various games onto his phone to annoy Aziraphale with later, and set off for the bookshop.

He wasn't sure how he'd let himself be talked into this. Well, yes he was. Aziraphale could talk him into anything, even though tempting was supposed to be Crowley's territory, it was most unfair. At least it was only for a few weeks at most, he was sure. Aziraphale had only brought one bag of books.

* * *

It was raining when they arrived, that solid, persistent type of rain that's heavy enough to soak you but light enough to last all day. They had parked as close to the cottage as they could and dashed indoors, where Aziraphale fussed over the books (thankfully dry) and Crowley stocked the wine cupboard. He'd then flopped onto the sofa and started playing the games. They kept him entertained for about an hour. The rain lasted for two days.

By the time the rain finally stopped, Crowley at least had a project in mind: get a mobile phone mast installed nearby. Aziraphale had of course been entirely unconcerned about whether the cottage had any signal, and the only place Crowley had so far found was a small patch of the guest room ceiling. Still, playing the NIMBYs off against the tourists might even be fun, and there wasn't much fun to be had around here.

He headed out to explore when the weather cleared: he found three potentially entertaining mast sites2, the only pub in the village, and a tea shop which did 'artisan' cakes, whatever that meant. There wasn't a lot else of interest. It was going to be a long couple of weeks.

When he got back, with cake of course, Aziraphale was just sitting there with a cup of cocoa, reading and occasionally smiling to himself, like he had been for most of the last two days. He could have done that in London. Crowley pointed this out as he handed over the cake, got a vague reply about ambience, and went for a nap.

* * *

Aziraphale woke him at some point in the evening, and beckoned him outside. "It's clear, come and see."

Crowley rolled over and grumbled. "Angel, there's nothing to see here in the daytime, let alone at night. Even the snails are bored. Can't you just wake me when it's time to go home?"

"I know, it's not your sort of place, but I really do think you'll like this. Humour me? Please?"

Crowley just knew that puppy-dog eyes were going to feature imminently and he might as well surrender now. Blessit. It was warm in here too. It wasn't going to be warm out there. He sighed.

"Okay, okay. But if you're getting me out of bed to look at a hedgehog, we're going to have Words."

* * *

Aziraphale had spread some thick blankets on the ground behind the cottage and was now arranging some insulated pots and bottles within easy reach. He was clearly intending to be out here for a while, and wanted tea and hot snacks to be prominently involved.

"Hurry up dear, you'll need time to get your eyes dark-adjusted."

" 'm a demon, my eyes can be dark-adjusted whenever I like."

"Come on then." He pulled his demon down beside him and wrapped a blanket around them both. 

"Now, look up."

Crowley did as he was told, lying back between the blankets with Aziraphale beside him, the angel's warmth comforting and still a little disconcerting. He gazed up at the sky.

It wasn't the orangey murk of the central London sky, but the glittery blue-black glory you got when the humans hadn't completely covered a place with lights yet. He could even see the Milky Way.

Aziraphale was babbling about better sites in Wales and Northumberland and the Scottish Highlands, that they could potentially visit, but Crowley was rather distracted. He had got out of the habit of looking up when the streetlights had started to spread and it had slowly become less and less interesting. He hadn't seen the sky like this in a very long time.

"Oh. Um. Wow."

Aziraphale smiled to himself - he knew he'd been right that Crowley would like this.

"Such a delightfully quirky name, Milky Way. Sometimes I wonder if the humans in the cities ever miss it."

"I think a lot of them don't even know it's there." Crowley replied, distantly.

"That's very sad."

"Mm."

Aziraphale spotted an interesting light in the sky, and frowned. "What's that? It's moving."

"That's a space station. It's got humans in it."

"Oh, marvellous. The things they come up with."

"Yeah." Crowley said, almost proudly. "So clever."

They lay in comfortable silence, each lost in the night sky. Suddenly there was a little flash, a brief streak, right overhead. Aziraphale started. "Oh! What was that? There's no meteor shower tonight is there?"

Crowley grinned. "Sometimes you get one on its own, some random thing getting too close to the planet and burning up. That was a good one."

"Mm, it was rather." Aziraphale paused. "The humans sometimes make wishes on them."

"That sounds like humans all right." Crowley remarked. "Figuring out how to go to space, but still making wishes on falling rocks." They both laughed, fondly.

"Did you make one?" Crowley said, looking up at the sky intently.

"Might have." Aziraphale admitted. "Did you?"

"Wouldn't be very demonic of me."

Aziraphale magnanimously decided not to point out that that didn't answer the question. There was another pause.

"If you tell me it won't come true, right?"

"So they say." Aziraphale replied.

"Best keep it to yourself then."

"Mm."

The silence returned. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted. A small patch of wispy cloud made an appearance on the horizon, then thought better of it and slunk off again. The tea quietly went cold, unappreciated.

Eventually, Aziraphale glanced over at Crowley. "The countryside has at least some appeal, then?"

"Yeah. Yeah, alright. Some."

Aziraphale smiled again. Close enough. 

* * *

1\. He had not been involved in creating them, but he did admire the handiwork. [back]

2\. One was next to a primary school, one was prominently on the skyline ruining the view for a whole street, and one was ideal in all respects but was right next to a large house with an immaculately-landscaped front garden and a council official's parking permit on its expensive car. Perfect. [back]

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever watched the ISS go overhead, or even just an aeroplane, and thought to yourself: 'there are people in that'?
> 
> Comments welcome and appreciated, either here or on [Tumblr](https://nephiliminality.tumblr.com/) :)


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